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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26533978">Swoonie's Tarot Patch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon/pseuds/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon'>INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ancient Greek Religion &amp; Lore, Lore Olympus (Webcomic), Tarot (Divination Cards)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Based on Tarot theory and usage, Drabble Collection, Drabbles, Experimental, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:03:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,939</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26533978</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon/pseuds/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of experimental drabbles and one-shots based on exploring the art and theory of Tarot cards.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aphrodite/Ares (Lore Olympus)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Introduction to this Project and Menu</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>In case it wasn’t clear after a year of weird headspace fic and stranger-than-strange explorations:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I’m a curious bean. I like learning new things, becoming a Jane of all trades, so to speak. I like trying new things I hear about from friends, and sometimes, those new things spawn really random ideas. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which is exactly what happened when I was introduced to </span>
  <a href="https://www.nixhydra.com/">
    <span>The Arcana</span>
  </a>
  <span> (mobile dating CYOA style story game). I became intrigued by the use of Tarot as the basis for a story, a multitude of intertwined and interconnected stories. I have friends who have used Tarot, have done readings for me with their decks, and I got curious. (And as a Southern gal, I would have been remiss in my heritage not to give credence to the inklings of truth hinted in those readings….)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I went hunting for basic information on Tarot. I stumbled upon the app </span>
  <a href="https://labyrinthos.co/">
    <span>Labyrinthos</span>
  </a>
  <span>, which not only included fully usable virtual Tarot decks and an interface where you could input your own non-virtual-actual-physical-deck readings, but a full database of information on the meanings, usage, and purposes of Tarot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One thing that stood out to me, repeatedly, is that the Tarot are based on the archetypes of human existence, and they are meant to tell a story - not only each card, and the various images portrayed thereon, but in each suit, in the Major and Minor Arcana themselves, in the denominations of the cards, in the progression through each cycle, AND in the way the various spreads are pulled and interact in THEIR constructions….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tarot. Is. Worldbuilding….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tarot. Is. Storytelling….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>My inspo-Muses ran away with this epiphany, and the result is a notebook full of ideas and various individual spreads for a variety of situations and characters in Lore Olympus, all completed with my new Radiant Wise Spirit Tarot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I spent nearly an hour in my local BooksAMillion, staring at and perusing the shelves of Tarot decks. I was torn between a beautiful Celtic Dragons deck and this more back-to-basics, down-to-earth option. In the end, I chose the RWS deck because it specified that it was essentially a reprint/remastered rendition of the original Ryder-Waite, and I do love a good Origin Story….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I shuffled and made my first five spreads that very afternoon. The first was a little off, but still coherent. The second was intriguing, but still a little off. The third was closer to spot-on, though still a touch random-feeling….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fourth is what the first fic in this series is based upon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just over a month has passed since then, and this deck has continued to impress. Many people say bought decks don’t always read well for others - I have NOT had that problem in the slightest. I think, in fact, that because I bought this deck with the sole intent of intending to craft stories from spreads ABOUT (fictional) Others, it is a little more suited to the task. Friends have enjoyed and found meaning in the spreads I’ve pulled for them, and the deck continues to impress me with how straightforward, blunt, and yet compassionate it is….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I also feel rather pleased that so many of the Major Arcana show up in my spreads so regularly. I tend to write about deep philosophical themes, and my deck seems to reflect that tendency, and has from the first day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, here begins this project - </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Each fic will be almost “drabble” style in the form of a one-shot, and each will be based entirely on a spread of Tarot. Each section of each fic will correspond directly to the way the spread was pulled, and will also be paired with an image, taken by me, of the card as it presented in the spread. The final section of each fic will be an image of the full spread, and my original reading notes transcribed over, if any. Sometimes, the cards speak for themselves. Other times, the booklet and guide included with my deck needed no other words from me to make the meanings clear. I do utilize Reversed meanings - have since the beginning - as I feel to deny ANY aspect of the story the Tarot are telling is to lose something….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For most of these fics, I use either a 5-card spread or a Celtic Cross. The 5-card is constructed as follows:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>First two cards are the two individuals in the relationship. Third card indicates some Potential for the two individuals together. Fourth is Advice for them, in the current moment or moving forward. Fifth and final card is a Possible Outcome, if the Potential is realized and the Advice heeded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This spread is the first I was introduced to by a friend, when they drew a spread for me and my main squeeze lover back in July. It holds a special place in my heart, and seems to work really well for most of the main pairings in LO….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally - due to time constraints and the more experimental nature of this project - I’m electing not to have my betafeeshy do her thing for this project at this time (after discussing it with her, of course). It’s something that is honestly more for shits and giggles, and I feel confident in my grammatical ability to put it out there and just let it ride. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Basically, I hope you enjoy, and as always, comments and kudos and all else are as yogurt to my soul. Thanks for hopping on my headspace train for another rambling ride!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-Swoonie and her insanely weird but oddly creative headspace muses (</span>
  <span>17 September 2020)</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Knight of Swords and The Sun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warnings for the following within this installment:</p><p>Argument between an established couple<br/>Mentions of unsupervised children and their antics<br/>Making up without really talking things through<br/>Physical violence channeled in into physical objects to "cool down"<br/>Mentions of war and warfaring injuries</p><p>.... Enjoy the first seedling in this Tarot Patch, little ones!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Ares: The Knight of Swords, Reversed</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘Dite, I don’t want to hear it! Ya did the thing; ya didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> to do the thing, but ya did!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ares, you weren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>! If you had been, I’d have talked to you about it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s insulting, and I won’t stand for it in my house!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Your. House?!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s shag, woman! SHAG! It’s gross and hairy and it doesn’t belong on the walls!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right! The only gross hairy thing on my walls should be YOUR </span>
  <em>
    <span>BACK!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door slammed behind him, only half-muffling her still-vitriolic almost-shrieking. He crashed off the patio, iron chairs and wicker settees flung away from his bare feet and his clenched hands. He huffed his breath through flared nostrils as he squared up to the dangling punching bag beneath the big shade tree and let fly with his tingling fists against the leather. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why were we even fighting about the stupid wall-carpet?!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Punch.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We were supposed to be deciding dinner….</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Jab.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>…. The fuck is wrong with me…?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Haymaker. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>…. Why can’t I be the man she needs…?</span>
  </em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Aphrodite: The Sun, Reversed</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her shoulders were trembling-tense, but she managed to hide it when Storge peeked around the door frame. His miniscule hamster sat despondent in the boy’s breast-pocket, and Storge’s cupped hand was filled to nearly overflowing with niblets of dried corn and wheat berries. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it, beanlet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why doesn’t Daddy like the fuzzy wall, Mommy? I think it’s really neat….”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, beanlet. Daddy and I will work it out. Run along and feed that little poop machine, now, please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her sweet boy wandered down the hall, murmuring to the little rodent he loved so dearly, and she sat down on the heavily cushioned chair at her vanity, folding one hand over her burning eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How did we get to this? Arguing over a wall?! Seriously!? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It used to be so simple. Love. Sex. More sex and more love. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Now…?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>If he wasn’t always gone so - ….</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>If he was….</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>….</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No. We said we’d make it work. We promised, years ago….</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We’ll make it work. We just….</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We need something different. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This isn’t the end of us. It can’t be. I won’t let a stupid shaggy wall break what binds us. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>She left her room - their room - and followed the beating of her heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He’s mine, and I’m his. No one else is the same, could ever be….</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The tossed-about furniture around the patio outside the glass doors told her where he’d gone.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Not fucking possible….</span>
  </em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Potential for the Couple: The Moon, Upright</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stared from the patio’s edge, watching the light shifting and pooling on his bronzed hide as he pounded away at the heavily-swinging leather bag: gold to her amethyst, sunrise to her dusk. War in his muscles, protection in his heart, matched to her love and care in a harmony so like the ocean of her birth where it met the sky in a hazy line of dreams. Perfection, and yet scarred….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He eyed her as he caught the bag mid-swing, grunting as it collided with his clenched abdominal muscles. She stood there, above him on the patio, looking him over with a too-keen eye: that look wouldn’t have been misplaced on a vulture hovering over a field of hacked corpses and ruin. Dawn-dark skin and fire in her gaze, curves of silk as taut as spider-threads: what had he ever done to deserve her attention, and why did it always hurt so much to consider he might not actually be worthy of her…?</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Advice for the Couple: 5 of Pentacles, Reversed</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He prowled up the hillside, approaching her with submissive posture and desperate need in his eyes. She had to know he’d try again; he’d always, always, try again. For her, for their family: no matter how dark his nights, she and their children were the sunrises he lived for….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt her body soften as he closed the distance, arms opening to him in sanctuary as she always had done before. If nothing else could be said of her, it was that she would always love her wartorn golden boy, because he so loved her and their family….</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Outcome for the Relationship: The Hermit, Upright</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They held each other on the patio, and it felt, for the moment, like their troubles would remain past. Here, in her arms, in his embrace: Here, they were home. What he craved, she bore in her heart. What she needed, he brought to her doorstep in spades. Together, they were whole. Apart, the world was ever nighted, and the bed beyond such simple terms as cold….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A ruckus arose in the house behind them. From the sound, the older children had pitted Philautia and the cat into some form of barroom brawl for two. Ares’ deep chuckle thrummed as Aphrodite scoffed at the interruption. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They walked back into the house, he behind, she before, and they knew they’d never say it, but they knew it all the same:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would always follow her, and she would always welcome him home again….</span>
</p><hr/>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Original Spread was drawn on 14 August 2020:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Knight of Swords, Reversed:</span>
</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <span>“Flared temper and an out of control personality who refuses to see the situation in any other way than his own. Commotion and fuss leads to little progress.”</span>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>The Sun, Reversed:</span>
</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <span>“Plans destroyed and setbacks abound. Take a deep breath, rethink your situation, and make an alternate move. Time for you to look on the bright side. Look for the light. Search out the good.”</span>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>The Moon, Upright</span>
</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <span>“Learn to move with life’s ebb and flow. Energy cycles. Push and pull. Dualities. And yet, find the middle road.”</span>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>Five of Pentacles, Reversed:</span>
</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <span>Challenges overcome. Moving past trouble spots. Growth and renewal. Don’t miss the sanctuary right beside you because you’re in the midst of the storm. Open eyes, and open hearts.”</span>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>The Hermit, Upright:</span>
</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <span>“Willingness to learn from mistakes. Light found in two halves made whole. Finding hope in Self, and sharing that with beloved and offspring before sojourning alone once more. Yet, always returning home.”</span>
  </p>
</blockquote><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'd love to hear any thoughts; ever and on they are yogurt to my darkling soul. </p><p>Swoonie<br/>18 September 2020</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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